How do you handle tailgaters?

[Crayz9000]

Remember that when you decide to take your trip to LA this summer. Granted, I've driven down there and I've never been shot at, but I DID cut someone off once (totally by accident) and they accelerated next to me and made a short attempt to run me off the road before screeching away.

I've run into my share of numbnuts. Case in point: One time, getting onto I-5 in Sun Valley, I'm sitting behind a cement mixer on the onramp and going about 30 MPH when we merge. I notice a break in the traffic behind me, flip on my turnsignal, and stomp on it. Three seconds later I'm doing 70 MPH, but I have some dumbass in a Dodge Ram coming up behind me at somewhere over 100 (he slows down to 90, but nearly rear-ends me anyway). So I keep accelerating, hit 90, and start to pull away from him (I frankly just want to get away from him). As a result of his nearly rear-ending me I'm boxed in between a number of freight trucks. I start looking for a way out, find one, floor it again to reach the opening in time... and the dumbass decides he's going to take my acceleration as a challenge and race me. Through heavy traffic. *sigh*

To cut it short, as soon as I got un-boxed, I dropped back to about 70 and let the moron speed past me (he nearly sideswiped me in the process). Bah, I could have outrun him easily if I'd wanted to, but I wasn't in a hurry to get into trouble with the CHP. Or burn an astronomical amount of fuel by running the engine with a wide-open throttle...

[The Yosemite Bear]

yeah what do you call a tailgater who keeps his highbeams running the whole time, and you can't even see them in front of you because his headlights are reflecting off your front windshield so bad that it's impossible to see where your going, two years ago a jerk was tailgating me I was doing 35mph in a 25zone, (becayse I knew the road, the sucker kept on my ass, so as soon as I had a pull out I signal to use it, the fucktard blows by me at 60 mph, and bam, he hits a deer and keeps on going, he broke her back and left her in the middle of the road.

I had to drag her off the road....

[Rogue 9]

These idiots seem to think that deliberately risking an accident by following too close is the most appropriate way of expressing impatience. As rude as the flashing headlights may seem, at least it's just pushy instead of recklessly stupid and irresponsible. That's why a tailgater is a much bigger asshole than someone who merely flashes his lights.

What about someone who flashes their lights while tailgating you?

[Johonebesus]

These idiots seem to think that deliberately risking an accident by following too close is the most appropriate way of expressing impatience. As rude as the flashing headlights may seem, at least it's just pushy instead of recklessly stupid and irresponsible. That's why a tailgater is a much bigger asshole than someone who merely flashes his lights.

What about someone who flashes their lights while tailgating you?

That's the thing. Around here, they usually don't flash their lights until they're already three inches off your bumper.

Besides, rude gets me a lot more riled up than stupid. I can forgive stupid people because they can't help being stupid. Or at least I tell myself that to try to keep my blood pressure under control. But when they go out of their way to be rude, that is when my blood starts to boil. I'll never forget the time some woman went up the wrong direction in a parking lot lane as I was backing out. I had to pull back in to let her by, and she flipped me off because she was too stupid to notice the arrow on the pavement. I jerked the car back into reverse and started backing out again to force her to yield, but she zoomed around me, screaming obscenities with her little kid in the front seat with her, the evil bitch.

[Uraniun235]

I remember going down the main road in my town, which also serves as Highway 8. The speed limit where I was driving was 30, although a lot of people go right up to 40 between this one gas station and the 40 MPH zone.

I was cruising along doing 35 easily, and this asshat in an SUV was behind me riding my ass. I look in my rearview mirror, and this guy's pissed off at me like I'm being the asshole. I shrug and keep going.

At the first chance he gets, he pulls into the right lane and passes me swiftly, shaking his hand at me as though I were being stupid. Hey, fuck you buddy, I'm already breaking the limit. Not my fault you want to risk an encounter with one of the local cops who just loves to give out tickets. (I have to be careful around here. My mother works at the police station, and thus most of the cops in town know who I am.)

If I had to pick a technotoy by which to dispose of tailgaters, I'd go with remote-detonation mines.

[Crayz9000]

Fill a water balloon with paint, chuck it out the back window.

[The Yosemite Bear]

Oh btw I feel like taking ofrepainting the back of my car with reflective paint, like that used on speedlim signs, highway markers etc.

is there any laws agiants that?

[Executor32]

LOL, that's a good one.

I usually either tap the brakes enough for the lights to come on, or intentionally match speed with a car next to me if we're on a 4-lane highway. If they're tailgating me nearly to the point of a collison and/or being an asshole about it (especially with their brights on), I'll stick my hand out the window, flip them off, then plug in the mini-spotlight I attached to the back of my headrest for just this purpose. When suddenly they're the ones that can't see shit, they tend to back off posthaste.

[The Yosemite Bear]

part of the problem is that I am such a nice guy I literally am the good sameritan of the highway around her, I have flares, the aforementioned 12 ton rolling jack, chains, sapre chains, tire repair kits, mil surplus shovel, fire extinguiseher, first aid kit, etc. in my tiny little car. (not to mention enough tools to fix just about anything, and a tow belt, as well as a come aloong (hey my car is tinyI can't pull an SUv out with my tGEO with out doing serious damage, I still have enough chains and other stuff to secure a line to an immovable object and let the come along and pulley's do the work fore me.

I also have a jumbo bag of cat litter incase you have your vehicle in a wet or snowy ditch and need traction.....


sometimes during the iwnter when I am driving steep windy icy grades and some t-gator stars flashing me, and I know that any faster will result in negative traction issues, and comming to a stop wouldn't exactly be safe either, I turn on my emergency blinkers, and let off the gass a bit more,

I had one of them come up to me and ask why while we were pulled over chaining up, (mike was putting on the guy's chains using my rollingg jack)

I looked at him, and said "sir, that's Bryce Bridge pass, it kills at least 3 peopel a year, because they don't know to respect a steepwinding grade with a rock fall hazzard, it's why I'm missing a good chunk of my front fender, and replaced a windshield a few years ago.

[The Third Man]

Five methods:

1. On with the rear high-intensity fog light. Simplest but illegal. Works best at night, obviously.

2. "Give 'em the water" as I've heard it called - wash the windscreen or rear window, and shower the offender. You can set up your washers specifically for this use by aiming them high. Works best if you don't use too much soap in the mix.

3. Hit the sidelights and the accelerator simultaneously. This is great because the offender thinks you're performing an emergency stop when he sees the red lights come on, but actually you zoom away leaving him stopped in the road looking like a proper idiot.

4, I don't personally like, use or recommend this one, but I have seen people empty the ashtray out of the sunroof.

5. Diesel vehicles: let your engine labour in high gear for a while, then drop a gear and boot it, thus producing a thick black choking cloud of exhaust fumes.

[The Yosemite Bear]

A personal favorite of mine is to know exactly where a speed trap is, and then drive exactly 4.5 miles per hour over the speed limit in front of the cop while inhabiting the slowlane, pull over as soon as the cop flashes pursuit lights and passes you going after the fucknut tailgator who will pass you, right infront of the hidden police car....

[Rogue 9]

There are also laws against intentionally matching the speed of the guy next to you on a four lane highway.

[The Yosemite Bear]

no, I m a master of zen driving, I simply drive the perfect speed for the occasion....

[Lord Pounder]

I'm not a driver, not even a provisional license, but if i where in the position of a tailgator following me i'd ease of the acclerator. I also dream of driving a James Bond type that drops huge tacks when you hit a button causing the tailgator to suffer 4 punctures.

[2000AD]

Normally i just ignore them. I would definately not suddenly break as chances are the asshole isn't expecting it and since i normally drive a Matiz i'd probably come off worse.
The textbook answer would be do gradually slow down so that there's a bigger gap between me and the car in front (so if i do need to stop i can do it gradually and not suddenly, therefor avoiding a car up the arse) but generally i just keep on at the same speed, which is normally the limit. If the fucknut wants to go speeding he can, just don't expect me to just so he can.

[Rye]

I pretty much just ignore them, or get out of the way if I can on the outside lanes on the motorway.

If it's on ordinary roads I can often be heard shouting "GET THE FUCK OUT OF MY ASS!" but otherwise am perfectly fine. I mean they just want to drive at silly speed, since i'm always at the speed limit or over. Just no need.

[Spyder]

There was a guy that used to work a night shift at the local airport. On his way home each night he was always being blinded by this one guy driving the other way that would never dip his high beams as he went past. One evening he borrowed one of the spare runway lights and mounted it on the front of his car. He made sure to remind the other guy what the sun looks like when he was driving home that night.

As for the tailgater, if it's in town and there's no room to pass keep slowing down and put the indicator on as if you're going to turn into a parking lot or driveway, sit there for a few moments then change your mind. Repeat until bored.

On the open road, get away from them before they kill themselves, and possibly you. Many of you probably have some idea what the New Zealand landscape looks like. When they're making roads they don't tend to like screwing with the terrain too much, most of the roading is placed around the geography, rather then through out. Needless to say the roads are hilly, windey, at certain times icey and in some places exceptionally steep. Given these conditions you'd think the average New Zealand driver would be reasonably good at not driving like a retard, you'd be wrong. So very wrong.

[Knife]

My wifes been known, when she's really pissed, to slightly veer into the emergency lane (where the loose gravel tends to gather) and kick it up on the offending car/truck.

Me personally, when some one tailgates me, it depends. I usually just let them pass but every once in a while you get that one asshole that tailgates you and then when you attempt to move over to let him pass, he gets impatient and cuts you off and zooms on ahead. When this happens, I floor it and get back ahead of him/her and then find me a nice slow granny to pace and block off the road with.

[aerius]

I get the guy off my tail by either speeding up & making a few passes, easing off the gas and making him pass me, or moving to a free lane to avoid him. Which one I do depends on traffic conditions and how I feel that day. Most of the time I change lanes to avoid him or slow down a bit to make him pass me since these are normally the easier options.

Now if the guy's being a real assgoblin I'll make him pass me then pull up behind him and give him the high beams & the finger.

[Lancer]

Just in case this particular form of slang is not universal, tailgaters are those FUCKING IDIOTS who follow your car so closely that their headlights appear to fill your entire rear-view mirror.

Do you slow down? Ignore them? Hit the brakes? Give them the finger? I'm just curious what the mixture of response tactics is.

I'm a pretty new driver here, so I probably don't have the most militant response, but if I'm already 5-10 mph over the speed limit, or there's somebody in front of me that's restricting my speed, keep current speed. If it's at nighttime, yeah, the rear-view mirror flash works, or you could break out a tactical flashlight (Brinkman Legend LX is a good one, and makes a great glove-compartment light for emergencies) and give em a taste.

If I'm going under the speed limit, let em pass or speed up, depending on the situation.

[The Yosemite Bear]

I have ten years of experienace, and in 1998 I was in a three car accident that wrecked the company vehicle I was driving. Black ice, bus infront of me breaks chains slides into snow back. I ease off gas and start to try and avoid the bus when the tailgator skidded, hit my ass and rammed me into the bus that was trapped in the snow bank....

oh well I am pretty hard to fire since I am now a bartender on perminante partial disabvbility still working for the same company...

[Oni Koneko Damien]

Hmm, after working for years in the fast-food industry, and with a couple of years experience sharing the road with morons, I've become a master at severely pissing off people who mildly annoy me, while making look like it's not my fault.

Once the fuckers are lodged behind me, most likely with the high beams on, I just steadily slow down, usually in the no-passing zone. If the fuckwits pass me, I make no attempt to stop them, they're off of my ass, I get to switch on the high beams, and they get to rush towards whatever accident will claim their lives all that much faster. I don't ever give them the dignity of flipping them off, that's almost like an admission that someone who's both mentally inferior to you, and a worse driver than you, somehow got the upper-hand when it comes to being cleverly annoying. If they honk or flash me, I just smile.

-Damien

[Alferd Packer]

Let's see, the response varies by the type of car.

If it's a ultra-lowered Civic or the like (it's a college town, so there are a lot of them around here), or, well, any passenger car, really, I ease back to the speed limit as it reads on my odometer, as I usually go three to five or so over to help account for the discrepency in my truck's tires over stock settings. This provokes a lot of unusual responses.

Some people like to rev that little 1.7 liter motor to let me know they're still back. Sounds like a gnat on crack. Funny stuff. Others like to swerve like they're Nascar cars warming up their tires. Others slam on the brakes, drop it into second or first, and race up to my ass, only to find that my speed hasn't changed at all. Chicken doesn't work when the guy you're playing with isn't afraid of you. Besides, with their lowered stance, odds are they'd just slide under my bumper. And then, of course, there's the inevitable flash of the high beams. Unforunately, these dicks ride so close and their headlights are so low that if it's not night out, I'll never see them do it.

For other trucks/SUVs/vans, I just ignore them. They're not gonna try to wreck with another truck. Even though my truck's small, it still weighs 3600 pounds and has one of the strongest boxed ladder frames built in a production truck. Besides, I'm saving them from getting a speeding ticket. They should thank me.

And real sports cars? Hell, they want to play chicken? That's fine by me. My truck's worth about five grand, and their car's worth about fifty--probably more. They get ignored, too.

[YT300000]

Sometimes I give them the finger. But there are usually far more inventive things to do. Lets just say that you don't want to tailgate any car I'm riding in.

[Darth Yoshi]

I ease off the brakes and slow down. Well actually, I also put just enough pressure on the brakes to get the lights to flash. I'm going at the speed limit, and if you want to speed, fuck off.

Of course, the "oil-slick" button seems mighty tempting.